Remains of Mashpee Wampanoag Leader Who Greeted Pilgrims Repatriated

Photo courtesy: Judith Goetz/Regan Comm.

MASHPEE – The remains of the Mashpee Wampanoag leader who signed the first treaty with the Pilgrims in 1621 were repatriated to his original burial site in Rhode Island Saturday.

A solemn ceremony took place on Burrs Hill Park, overlooking Narragansett Bay.

A 20 year quest tracked down the scattered remains and artifacts that were kept in several different museums.

The effort was led by Ramona Peters and John Peters Jr. with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Edith Andrews of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and Kenneth Alves of the Assonet Band of Wampanoag.

A citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Ramona Peters is also the coordinator of the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederation.

Over the past 20 years, the confederation of tribes has been focused on finding the remains of 8sâmeeqan (pronounced oosa-meek-kwan), which had been removed from his original Burr Hill Park burial site in 1851 to make way for railroad construction.

Over the years, the confederation has successfully repatriated the grave contents of 42 burials with 658 funerary objects removed from the burial ground on a hill at the edge of 8sâmeeqan’s village of Sowams, now known as the Town of Warren, RI.

CCB Media photo: Repatriation Act Director Ramona Peters (l), Tribal Administrator Leslie Jones (c), and Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell (r). 

“Today is a very special, spiritual day. It’s somber and yet we celebrate being able to bring his remains back to Burrs Hill,” Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Cedric Cromwell said at Saturday’s ceremony, which was attended by over 150 tribe members and officials from the Town of Warren.

“8sâmeeqan is a significant figure in our shared history,” Peters said.

“He stands at the crossroad between the indigenous people of this land and the origins of what would eventually become the United States of America.”

Saturday’s ceremony was a held a day after tribal leaders re-interred 8sâmeeqan’s remains in his original burial site.

The grave was sealed and covered with a large rock engraved with 8sâmeeqan’s signature and an inscription celebrating his vision of peace with the early settlers.

“He was that great leader, that great chief that led this nation forward, and it all started here and which transitioned into the 13 colonies and obviously the United State of America,” said Cromwell.

Near the conclusion of the ceremony, Ramona Peters took a few moments to acknowledge the help the town provided with the repatriation efforts.

“I am very grateful for the town officials who are present. We found this town to be incredibly warm and generous,” Peters said.

“It was about 15 years ago that (the Town of Warren) gave us a $15,000 grant to helps us.

In the future when Wampanoag people come here to make offerings and say prayers may they always be respectful of the people of Warren and the land they have here.”